Long‐distance dispersal explains the bipolar disjunction in <i>Carex macloviana</i>

Abstract

<i>Carex macloviana</i> reached its bipolar distribution by long-distance dispersal, although it was not possible to determine whether it was caused by mountain hopping or by direct dispersal. While there is some support that <i>Carex macloviana</i> might have colonized the Northern Hemisphere by south-to-north transhemisphere dispersal during the Pleistocene, unlike the southwards dispersal pattern inferred for other bipolar <i>Carex</i> L. species, we cannot entirely rule out north-to-south dispersion.